Dominican University President Shares Plan for Resilience Amid Cuts

In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Education abruptly ended approximately $350 million in discretionary grants for so-called “minority-serving institutions,” including the Title V programs that specifically supported Hispanic-serving institutions like Dominican University of California.

Dominican remains committed to students as those federal grants end, ensuring critical support continues through innovation and our community’s partnership.

These programs were never about advantaging any group over another. Title V eligibility is determined by enrollment — specifically, whether at least 25% of undergraduates identify as Hispanic. At Dominican, 32% of undergraduates identify as Hispanic, and many of our students are also of the first generation in their families to attend college or are Pell Grant eligible, meaning they come from households with high financial need. No individual student at Dominican is admitted, excluded or denied services based on race.

The resources made available through Title V have been transformative and benefited students of every background and identity.

At Dominican, these federal grants funded mentoring, summer college-readiness and community-building programs, as well as scholarships that directly improve access, persistence and graduation rates for all students.

These are not experimental efforts. Rather, they are tested, effective strategies, central to Dominican’s award-winning approach to supporting students from all backgrounds.

The results are undeniable. For example, there is a 12% gap statewide between Latino and non-Latino graduation rates. At Dominican, we reduced that gap to less than 1%. For our 2017 entering cohort, Dominican’s four-year graduation rate was about 29 points higher than that of the California State University system and 13 points higher than the national four-year rate. The bottom line: when institutions invest intentionally in student success, achievement gaps can close.

The loss of federal discretionary grants is a significant shift for a small institution like Dominican, where every dollar is directed toward supporting students for whom a college degree translates to life-changing opportunities for themselves and their families.

Many of our undergraduates come from households struggling to meet basic needs. When tuition, housing and transportation are added to the mix, even the most determined students can face insurmountable barriers without additional support.

Dismantling barriers and championing students of all backgrounds is what we do, and we’ve done it well for a long time. In 2020, we received the American Council on Education Award for Institutional Transformation. In a 2021 survey for GradReports, Dominican was ranked alongside Harvard, Yale and Stanford for post-graduate salaries.

In 2022, Georgetown University ranked us 174th out of 3,410 institutions for return on investment for low-income students, placing us in the top 6% nationally.

But there’s a bigger picture here: Student success yields measurable dividends for students’ families and our communities. Our alumni are health-care professionals, educators, nonprofit leaders and business professionals who fuel the Bay Area economy and strengthen civic life. The positive ripple effect of a college degree is profound.

Leaders at Dominican have anticipated this moment and planned for resilience. Our long-range financial strategy will ensure the highest and best use of our real estate assets, while strengthening diverse revenue streams beyond tuition and federal funding.

This includes strategic efforts to deepen our philanthropic partnerships and calls on our community to pool critical resources that advance our shared goals.

The loss of federal grants for minority-serving institutions and Hispanic-serving institutions is a massive disappointment. But leadership at Dominican will not allow it to diminish our progress or threaten our promise to students. What really matters is protecting access to life-changing education, right here at home, like only Dominican can.